1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to electronic test equipment and a system for storing electronic test related information and, in particular, to an apparatus and method for storing test context data in a manner integrated with other test related data including instrument setup data and captured test data.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventional electronic test equipment, such as oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, etc., generally allow users to save data acquired from the device under test (also referred to herein as "test data" or "acquired data") and several control or configuration settings of the test equipment (also referred to herein as "test setup" or "setup data" or "test setup data"). The test equipment is configured to acquire data from a device under test (also referred to herein as a "test device"). The test device may be incorporated into a larger test bench which may include, for example, devices used to generate stimuli.
The test data and setup data may be stored in storage means within the test equipment used to acquire the test data or may be stored in a general purpose computer connected to the test equipment and used to provide a richer user interface in control of the test equipment. The saved information is later recalled by the scientist or engineer to recreate a prior test, for documentation, or for data reduction purposes.
A problem encountered by the test equipment user is the inability of the conventional test equipment to capture and store the specifics of the measurement environment (also referred to herein as "context data", "background data", "background information", or "context information"). The test equipment user therefore has little background or context information for the originally saved test data and test setup. Exemplary background information or context data may include, for example, the points (leads) probed on the device under test, identification information for the device under test (e.g., board number or revision information), the ambient temperature, stimuli generating device settings (e.g., a power supply voltage), other parameters of the test bench, etc.
Often this background information is stored manually and separately (such as in a lab notebook) and must be correctly correlated at a later time with the saved information regarding the test setup. Errors in manually correlating the test setup and the background information make it difficult to duplicate earlier test conditions, to form a baseline for test data, to create documents for design reviews, or to reduce and analyze test data for device failure reviews.
Manually gathered and stored context data is subject to a number of human errors. As the test environment changes, recordation of such changes in the background information may be lost or forgotten. Or, for example, a number of tests may be performed in rapid succession to isolate a particular problem. Successive tests might, for example, modify a single stimuli over a range of values. With each successive test, the context information may require updating which may be lost if manual procedures are relied upon.
It is evident from the above discussion that a need exists for improved methods and apparatus for generating and storing context data associated with test data and setup data of a particular test environment.